Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire

Describe the aspects of agricultural life that struck Babur as particular to regions in northern India.

Compare the irrigation devices observed by Babur with what you have learnt about irrigation in Vijayanagara (Chapter 7). What kind of resources would each of these systems require? Which systems could ensure the participation of peasants in improving agricultural technology?

In what ways do you think the panchayats described in this section were similar to or different from present-day gram panchayats?

What principles did the Mughal state follow while classifying lands in its territories? How was revenue assessed?

What impact do you think the expansion of the empire would have had on land revenue collection?

What difference would each of the systems of assessment and collection of revenue have made to the cultivator?

Would you consider the land revenue system of the Mughals as a flexible one?

List all the sources that Abu'l Fazl used to compile his work. Which of these sources would have been most useful for arriving at an understanding of agrarian relations? To what extent do you think his work would have been influenced by his relationship with Akbar?

What are the problems in using the Ain as a source for reconstructing agrarian history? How do historians deal with this situation?

To what extent is it possible to characterise agricultural production in the sixteenth-seventeenth centuries as subsistence agriculture? Give reasons for your answer.

Describe the role played by women in agricultural production.

Discuss, with examples, the significance of monetary transactions during the period under consideration.

Examine the evidence that suggests that land revenue was important for the Mughal fiscal system.

To what extent do you think caste was a factor in influencing social and economic relations in agrarian society?

How were the lives of forest dwellers transformed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Examine the role played by zamindars in Mughal India.

Discuss the ways in which panchayats and village headmen regulated rural society.

Select a small section of the Ain (10-12 pages, available online at the website indicated below). Read it carefully and prepare a report on how it can be used by a historian.